Mentally impaired people 'exploited by court-appointed deputies'

Action is needed to
prevent vulnerable people being ripped-off by those appointed by the
courts to manage their finances, MPs have been told.

Lib Dem MP Duncan Hames said a constituent of his, who suffered head injuries in a car crash, was left nearly "penniless".

Lib Dem MP Duncan Hames Source: BBC News

The man had paid out a third of his compensation in fees to solicitors appointed as his "deputy", said the MP.

The government said it was taking steps to improve the system.

Deputies are appointed by the Court of Protection, which was
set up by the 2005 Mental Capacity Act to protect the financial
interests of mentally incapable people.

They are meant to make financial decisions on behalf of people judged incapable of doing so themselves.

Mr Hames, MP for Chippenham in Wiltshire, and
parliamentary aide to Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, claimed the
solicitors appointed to look after the financial affairs of his
constituent, who he referred to as "Mr Able", had not acted in his best
interests.

'Vulnerable adult'

"A vulnerable man has been left more or less penniless by the
inaction of those meant to protect him - and the regulatory reaction has
been tacit indifference," he told MPs in Westminster Hall.

"Over a third of the personal capital Mr Able possessed at
the time control of his finances passed to the court-appointed deputy
solicitors was subsequently paid to those solicitors, as fees for the
job of controlling his expenditure, and yet they did not even ensure he
received appropriate benefits when he was unemployed," he added.

Wiltshire Council now acted as deputy to "Mr Able", who was
awarded a large sum in compensation 13 years ago after suffering head
injuries in a road accident which left him with learning difficulties,
said Mr Hames, and he was now receiving the support he needs.

"If a council can achieve this, then surely, given the
expense he was being forced to go to, his court appointed deputy should
have been able to?," he asked MPs.

Mr Hames said he had "exhausted every available regulatory
channel" in an attempt to get justice for "Mr Able" - including the
Office of the Public Guardian, the body which oversees deputies and
which had concluded there were no failings in the way his case had been
handled.

He said "Mr Able" may be in a minority - but he was not alone in being a "vulnerable adult" who had been failed by the system.

Mrs Grant told Mr Hames she would take his concerns on board,
telling MPs a new public guardian, Alan Eccles, had launched "a
fundamental review of the way supervision of deputies is currently
carried out".

The Conservative minister said the aim was to "ensure proper
safeguards are in place to protect people who lack capacity and to
ensure decisions are made in their best interests".

More attention would be focused on cases "that require most
support or where there are potential concerns," she added, with deputies
who are "operating effectively" allowed to do their job with "minimal
intervention".

There would be more support for new deputies, and more
supervision for "lay people acting on behalf of the family", compared to
legal professionals, public authorities and other "professionals".

There is likely to be a growing number of deputies in the
future, as the population ages, she told MPs and it was important to
encourage people to "plan for the future by making lasting powers of
attorney, to avoid the need... for a deputy to be appointed at all."

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Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-20145301

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